A few weeks ago a senior Irish politician phoned me at home and asked me if I would take part in a press conference where prominent Irish writers would declare their support for the Lisbon Treaty. He mentioned his own support for what he called "the European project" and added, correctly, that he understood that I, too, supported both the project in general and the treaty in particular.

While I was prepared to vote for the treaty, I realised that it was almost impossible to defend it in public, especially if there were to be questions or comments from those who opposed it. The treaty was unreadable, for example; it was filled with legal terms and references to subsections of other treaties. Some of its terms were ambiguous and could only be interpreted by judges after complex legal arguments. It was not drafted to be fully understood by ordinary voters. In 26 countries it could be ratified by politicians under instruction from their leaders. In Ireland, because of our constitution, we had to have a referendum.

The treaty was a godsend to every crank in Ireland, on the left and the right. It would undermine Ireland's sovereignty, they suggested; it could introduce abortion; it could interfere with our system of low corporate taxation, which has attracted so much investment; it could undermine Ireland's military neutrality. It could give faceless bureaucrats even more power.

Opponents included Sinn Féin and the Catholic right, but also people on the far left. Because of our laws governing referendums, RTE, the national broadcaster, had to give equal time to the yes and no campaigns. Thus seasoned politicians, such as the one who phoned me, found that people with no electoral mandate were being given vast amounts of airtime to spread fear and misinformation as well as serious reservations about the Lisbon Treaty.

The four main political parties in the country supported a yes vote, but did so ineptly. Politicians put posters up all over the country with large colour photographs of themselves and a tiny message to say vote yes. This looked like a dismal exercise in self-promotion. Also, the treaty is complex and could not be reduced to soundbites.

No politician could tell the voters that Lisbon would do them good in any exact or specific way; instead, supporters had to devote most of the campaign denying that the treaty would involve conscription, abortion, euthanasia or higher taxes. I was taken aback slightly when the politician who phoned me - a liberal enough fellow - assured me so glibly of his support for "the European project". His party was in power in the 1970s when the Irish government had to be forced, kicking and screaming, to introduce equal pay for women by the European Commission. He was in power when Ireland opposed the decriminalisation of homosexuality and had to be instructed to change the law by the European court of human rights.

I support the European project as a way of protecting me from Irish politicians. I voted for Lisbon, not because I wanted to follow the Irish political establishment but because I despise it and need protection from it.

The defeat of the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland was not a single mutiny on the part of the Irish moral majority. It was 20 different mutinies. For example, all areas which depend on fishing voted heavily against the treaty. Working class areas in the cities voted against it. Right-wing Catholics voted against it. Old-fashioned Irish nationalists voted against it. Rural people voted against. Certain rich business interests voted against.

But also, some in Ireland, like their French and Dutch counterparts who voted against the European constitution, have deep and serious concerns about the democratic deficit in Europe.

The lack of accountability and transparency in how decisions are made makes people deeply suspicious of a more powerfully centralised Europe.

It is likely that this treaty would have been defeated in many European countries had it been subjected to a referendum.

It is a pity that those who drafted it did not take into account what the fears might be of the only electorate who would have to vote for it in a referendum, and attempt to address them. Certainly, the Irish political leadership did not do so. But it was not easy.